A section of BJP workers from Chikkamagaluru have begun a campaign asking the party leadership to not select sitting MP Shobha Karandlaje as the candidate from the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency in the upcoming Lok Sabha election.
Opposition is mounting against Shobha Karandlaje in her own constituency. "We are unhappy with the lack of development in our area particularly for the OBCs and backward classes. She is unreachable for workers like me because she is heavily involved in state politics. We are answerable to the people in our area," asks Girish.
A campaign was also started on Twitter and Facebook with users posting #ShobhaGoBack asking the BJP to change its candidate from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency.
Full support to the #ShobhaGoBack trend. Please give us candidates worthy to vote @BJP4India
— Priyanka Shanbhag (@piyukamath) February 22, 2019
Of course we want Modiji as the PM, but don’t take the voters for granted! @BJP4Karnataka
I Strongly Oppose if @BJP4Karnataka @narendramodi @AmitShah @BJP4India wil gv LS ticket For @ShobhaBJP In Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Constituency. Here already A Campaign Started That Against Shobha. @JPHegde is good person and he deserv the Ticket. #ShobhaGoBack #jayaprakashhegde #LS
— Venkataramana Naibhi (@venkat_naibhi) February 21, 2019
The disgruntled BJP workers from Chikkamagaluru are quick to add that party workers are still in support of PM Narendra Modi and are only asking the party to replace Shobha Karandlaje with a local candidate for the upcoming elections. "We are also against her hate-driven politics and we want politics driven by love. We want Narendra Modi to come to power but Shobha Karandlaje should not be the candidate here," says Girish Uppar, a BJP worker from Uppar.
Girish's statements are echoed by BJP workers from Tarikere, Ajjampura and Kadur, which are located in the northern and eastern parts of the district. Shobha was in Tarikere on Friday to attend a function celebrating the developmental activities undertaken to improve facilities at the Tarikere railway station. However, party workers from Tarikere were unhappy with her for her perceived ignorance of the town in the last five years.
"Workers like us have not seen her here in the last five years. We want a local candidate to be named the candidate. She has no connection with ground-level workers because of her involvement in state politics," says Lohit, a BJP worker from Tarikere.
The disgruntled party workers say that they prefer Jayaprakash Hegde over Shobha Karandlaje as the candidate from the Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency.
Jayaprakash Hegde, a former minister in the state joined the BJP from the Congress in 2017 and is one of the names being considered for the BJP's candidature from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru. He was previously elected from the constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections when he contested as the Congress candidate. "I cannot comment on this and I am not expecting a ticket from the party either. If the party chooses me, then I will definitely contest," he said speaking to TNM,
Shobha Karandlaje, who hails from Puttur in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, contested and won from the constituency in 2014. However, in spite of the opposition, sources close to Shobha maintained that she will be contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Udupi-Chikkamagaluru constituency itself. Shobha is a close aide of BJP state President BS Yeddyurappa. She is, meanwhile, attending public events in the constituency including the one in Tarikere on Friday.